Should I take it to a garage or to the dealer to be inspected?

97 prelude Si

 

97Si? do you mean base model or a real Si?
post up your smog results.. there shouldn't be much a good day of carbcleaning and degunking wont fix.

 

Well, under the "No (PPM) section, the part that failed, results are as follows:


15mph:
Max:437, Ave:57, MEAS: 543
25mph:
MAX:724, AVE:50, MEAS:634

Im about to leave work so if you need the rest, ill post them when I get home.

 

o2 sensor and minor tune-up stuff should help u pass

 

Im gonna probably stop by the dealer and see if they can do something for me. I really don't know too many garage mechanics around my way. Plus Im busy the rest of the week.


Thanks for your input.

 

I took it to the dealer and the service advisor said it may be signs of a bad cat. They are trying to charge me 800 to replace it. Of course they still need to charge me 90 bucks to have a tech inspect it to make sure.

 

move move move out of ca

 

Lol $800 for a cat? Thats rediculous.

 

How about the $80 JUST TO CHECK to see if it is it.

 

Im gonna drop it off at this little mechanic and have them inspect it.

and am I missing something? I see cats for sale online for anwhere between 30-100 bucks? Is that right?

 

The dealer is only good for oil changes, nothing more. Getting a repair at a dealer is absolutely insane.

 

getting repairs at a dealer after accidents is NOT insane.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by avargas28 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">and am I missing something? I see cats for sale online for anwhere between 30-100 bucks? Is that right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, a $30 cat is an empty pipe that they label a 'high-flow' cat or whatever. Get an OEM replacement cat from a reputable online store...the one I recently got for our CRV was around $110.

 

ok, cool. Thanks for the info. Do you happen to know a good online store that sells cats for a 97 prelude?

 

I can't think of any specific stores off-hand, but google 'Prelude catalytic converter' and you should come up with several options.

 

Dude Just buy a Cat off the Internet and Put your car on a jack and stands, Unbolt your old cat, bolt up your new one, and viola. Make sure that it is actually the damn cat first. You wwould hate yourself for doing all that work, just to have the same problem.

 

I failed smog on so many different cars!!!!!!
First, going to a dealer is really not the way to go unless you're MR. money bags.
Second, usually, when you fail, they will tell you what you need to do to pass!
If its just a test-only center than you are not in a good position because they probably wont know anything. If you go to a mechanic who also does smog and smog repairs than you're in a better position.
Third, for me to pass my smog, i cleaned my O-2 sensor, put a new air filter, and put in a bottle of fuel injector cleaner and ran my car for awhile (drove it around) and that passed my smog. You have a honda man, not a nissan or old truck! You should be able to pass unless you tweaked your ride.

 

thank god for my little mechanic shop. They are going to do a diagnosis for $45. Gonna do it tomorrow.


Better than $95 at the dealer and $70 at some other place.